The Bewitched Soul - Chapter 13 The Tree

He watched the pair dance elegantly. Their moves were in perfect sync… and they complemented each other. It was rather surprising to see Lord Alexander’s attentiveness to a female. There was a time when he had a devastating experience… the most painful thing one could ever experience. The pain, the torture and the being helpless to see your loved ones die in front of you, often leave you entangled in a complex web of emotions and reactions. Some may feel guilty about what they did, did not, could, or could not do to save the person who has died. You will ache for the person and yearn to be with them again. The death of loved ones affects a person in several different ways. It can be overwhelming for some while it can be frightening and painful for others. For the Lord, it was the latter. Everybody grieves in their own ways. Sadness, anger, despair, guilt, and loneliness all combined together, settled deep within him. It was not at all easy to cope after a loss. The great king of all time… was broken. Only a few knew about this. Corbette being a reliable councilman, was one of them, serving the Lord for over a century.

Moving towards Margaret,

“How was the dance?” his mischievous eyes teased her.

“What!” she spilled on her lips.

“Umm… I saw you dancing with Lord Alexander, Margaret,” he winked, “Or was I just hallucinating?”

“Father…” no more words came out of her mouth. She felt short of words at the very moment. Of course, this was something very new to her.

“Let’s go home now.” he motioned her to follow him.

“Okay.” her voice was low… enough for both to hear.

Scanning the crowd for a while,

“We should get going, Liliana.” he looked at the giant wall clock.

“Where’s Caroline?” his eyes scanned the crowd.

“Does it matter anyway?” Liliana smirked… her eyes gave a sharp look.

“Where is she, Liliana?” his voice commanded.

“She’ll be coming soon. Oh, there she is!” she pointed her finger towards the giant Christmas tree. Holding a glass of red wine in her hand, she walked towards them smiling.

“Caroline, we are leaving,” he made no attempt to hide the disgust in his eyes.

“Now? This early? th–”

“We are leaving now, Caroline.” the command was strong.

Caroline looked at her mother, a flash of irritation crossed her face.

“Let’s go dear,” a slow smile worked its way across Liliana’s face.

The family went to say goodbye to the Lord.

“Thank you, Milord, for inviting us to the party.” Corbette bowed as he spoke to Lord Alexander.

Alexander’s eyes fixed on the young beauty standing in front of him with her eyes cast down. She lifted her gaze to the Lord and gave a shy smile. She tried for a bold smile but utterly failed. The thoughts of her dancing with the Lord, made her face go all red.

“Pleasure,” Alexander spoke, his eyes fixated on Margaret’s smile.

He will miss this small girl and her shy smile for a hundred times a day.

“We’ll be taking our leave. Merry Christmas, Milord,”

“Merry Christmas,” Alex’s lips held a small smile.

The family of four left for the night. Her departure made his throat tighten, his heartache, and his lips pursed.

‘Nineteen years old’ these three words kept ringing in his mind the whole time.

Those eyes, those lips, those facial features… couldn’t be a mere coincidence. The shy personality was something Alex was once deeply in love with. Many deep secrets were hidden… but for now, he needed his first answer. The answer which would finally reveal his true identity completely. For all these years, his identity was a secret; a mystery. His mother’s death was a mystery. His parent’s love was a mystery. His father’s marriage to the queen was a mystery. His relation with the late queen was a lie and mystery.

The new year would bring calm to his storming mind.

On their way back home, Margaret opened the window to allow the cold breeze to caress her face. Closing her eyes, she reminisced about her time spent at the palace. She was scared for no reason. She enjoyed the party… the dance especially. Meeting Lord Alexander didn’t feel like she met for the first time. He felt familiar.

‘Margaret, you think a lot’, her inner voice spoke, her cheeks flushed to the color of scarlet.

She opened her eyes. The trees sprinted… the moon shone brightly. But then amidst the dense forest, she saw someone sitting on a tree. The figure slowly vanished as the carriage moved further.

Sitting on the branch of the tree, Alexander saw the beauty inside the carriage. The striking facial features… everything resembled except for the blonde blonde hair. One could hardly spot a person with blonde hair in the Land of Brookville. The only person Alexander knew who had blonde hair was his dead cousin, Jacob.

There were many unanswered questions right now. But for now, he only waited to see the girl. After she left, no matter how hard he tried not to, he ended up following her. It felt like a connection. Being a vampire from pure blood lineage, Alexander had superpowers. But it all failed when he tried to know more about her. He has asked Margaret to dance along with. This was a perfect opportunity for him to know her, but when they touched… Alexander could only hear her heart thumping against her chest. He felt strange.

Thinking about this,

‘This is the first time she’s attending a party.’

He remembered Corbette saying this to him when he first met Margaret.

‘First time?’ Alex thought to himself.

This implied that she was hiding from the crowd all these years. Corbette had once adopted a human nineteen years back, which meant that Margaret was his adopted daughter. Being the pure blood, Alex was sure too that she wasn’t just a human. He could easily identify if she was human. Seeing the carriage pass by, Alex heard his heart beat faster. His heart crumbled inside his body when he saw the distancing carriage when vanished amidst the snowy fog.

He sat on the branch for a while before heading back to the castle.

The castle which was filled with people a few moments ago was all deserted again. Alexander walked past the huge hall to the swirling stairs. On his way, he stepped on something. Looking down, he saw a hairpin with a strand of long blonde hair sticking to it. He carefully took it and placed it safely in his pocket.

‘Merry Christmas’ he wished himself.

It was already thirty minutes past twelve. While climbing the stairs, he stopped. Thinking for a while, he started climbing the stairs again. Reaching the first floor, he turned to his left and started walking. He walked slowly taking short steps. The dark corridor smelled like dust. He suddenly stopped and turned to his right to open a door. The door creaked open. He walked straight towards the bed after shutting the door. He laid down on the bed and took out the hairpin out of his coat pocket.
for visiting.

Looking at it, his lips curled up… but his eyes showed no emotion.

He carefully looked curled the strand of hair with his finger which looked like a silver string circling around his finger. The blonde hair strand glowed against the dim light.

He fell asleep.

Alexander was wrapped in profound sleep, enveloped by the warmth of silence. In our sleep, we dream of things past, things that will never happen ever again. Sometimes we dream of visiting the one we lost. In the world of dreams, we tend to imagine things which happen according to us. We weave our own dream and end it as we please. We often dream of the past, like the incidents we never wanted to happen… or the incidents which never went in our way as we wanted. We also dream of things which left no trace in our lives.

The night was unusually quiet.

Alexander woke up from his sleep as if he heard something. His face void of emotions. His hazel eyes radiated a deep shade of black in the dark room. The radiant moon reflected herself as a tiny star in the bottomless pool of darkness of his eyes. After a while, he got up and went near the window. Touching the window pane, he remembered a scene from the past.

‘You cannot be this weak Alexander. Your mother was one of the strongest women I’ve seen.’

‘She was beautiful… most beautiful’

The scene was fresh in his mind as if it had happened yesterday. The whole scene was being played in front of him. The five-year-old Alexander was pleading to the Lord, his eyes drowned in his own pool of tears. He remembered how his father’s eyes were void of emotions, yet they told a story of sadness and grief as a single drop of tear slowly fell down his face while staring outside the window.

He was in his father’s room.

Being the most powerful king of all provinces in his time, Lord Randolph had felt helpless in front of his son. He saw his father sitting in a state of profound grief and sadness. His face lowered… staring at the floor, the tears in his eyes threatened to drop down any moment. His hands gripped his knees hard as if he would have collapsed any time soon. His eyes were red and staring before him, and his face was tightened hard not to show any emotions. He tried to control his emotions but failed bitterly.

Lord Alexander closed his eyes gently. He didn’t want to experience the painful past again. His heart sank deep inside his body. His forced breathing could not handle the amount of pain his heart was suffering. He felt suffocated.

Looking down the window, he jumped landing on his feet.

He took short slow steps. He wandered in a garden full of trees. Out of the many, there stood a giant tree. Its naked branches were adorned with frost. Not a single leaf in the tree, but the dripping frost added beauty to the overall appearance. It looked like time froze as the snow melted and dripped down the leafless branches. The long narrow water crystals hung down the branches. The huge broad trunk was covered with rough patches of crystal clear frost giving a glassy effect to it.

It looked like a glass tree with long narrow pointed glass leaves.

For a human, it would have been a scary old tree without leaves. But if one notices it carefully, it was nature’s beauty and one of a kind.

The tree lived for centuries. What made it special that it never had leaves.